The Partnership
by ShadowHunter442
Summary: Folow Kioto as he makes his way through Aincrad, fighting to keep those he loves alive.


**So guys, in tandem with Soul Eater Facebook, I'm going to put out an actual story. The Lone Sword follows a young man named Kioto Eybon, who gets trapped in SAO and meets a beautiful girl. Who that is, well, I'll let you find out. This epic romantic adventure will follow a lot of the main story line of SAO, but I may add in some things of my own that I thought would make it a little more humorous. So, now with out further ado, I give you The Lone Sword!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SAO or its characters. I only own my OCs**

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Ever since I first heard about VR games, I've always wanted to play, and then my best chance came along. The VRMMORPG Sword Art Online was released. I rushed out to Akihabara and snagged one of the 10,000 hard copies of the game. I got home and plugged in the NerveGear, put the cartridge in the slot and put on the helmet. I laid on the bed and shouted, "Link start!" With a flash of white light the game started.

The first thing I saw was cobblestones and my clothes. My boots were black and came to my calf. I had on black pants, a silver belt, and a black long sleeved shirt with silver trim. On my hands were black gloves. I knew that my hair was spiky and brown, and that I had green eyes. I looked up and gasped at the buildings surrounding me. It was like I was transferred to a medieval market. There were vendors lining the streets, their booths filled with knives and swords and all kinds of weaponry. Players were everywhere, talking in groups, forming parties, buying goods. It was paradise! Full dive technology was the best thing to ever happen to me!

Doing a quick scan of my gear, I saw that I had on leather armor, leather boots, leather gloves, and a beginner sword. It was about 3½ feet from the tip to the bottom of the handle. I liked it, but I figured it wouldn't get me far. I remembered from the game manual that the currency was called Col. I looked at my menu, and saw that I had around 25000 Col, a gift for preordering the game. I went and got in line at what I heard was the best weapon vendor in town. I waited for my turn and finally got to the front of the line. "Hello my friend, would you like to see my wares?" The NPC asked me. The menu popped up and I started scrolling through the weapons. I saw a spear that looked pretty good. The reach was spot on, but I didn't think it was right for me. I wanted a weapon that I could slash with, but that was still hafted. Until a player got a good enough blacksmithing skill, I would just have to put up with it.

I ran across the alley and into the first field. I saw a notification that flashed across the top of my field of vision that read, "Now Entering, Field of Begging, Western Field." The western field was beautiful, with vivid green grass, beautiful wild flowers, and a bright, clear sky. The only thing that was marring the beautiful landscape was the boars. They were EVERYWHERE! I couldn't believe how many there were.

"Wow, there's so many." I heard. Looking over, I saw what had to be the most beautiful girl in the entire game. She had pink hair that fell in a solid sheet to her back. She had beautiful blue eyes that seemed to bore into my soul. "Sure is," I replied lamely. '"Sure is?" Really?' I thought. The girl giggled. "My name is Lisbeth, but you can call me Lis." She smiled at me. "My name's Kioto, it's a pleasure to meet you." I said. Remembering something that knights and nobles used to do in medieval times, I took her hand and kissed the back of it. 'When in Rome,' I thought to myself. She blushed. "I see you've picked up some things from this game," she told me. I blushed softly, wishing I had thought that through more. "Well, the game has a Dark Ages kind of feel to it, and when in Rome…. I'm going to stop talking now." By the end of my little splurge I was more red then the boars' eyes. She laughed, a clear, cutting sound, like that of tinkling crystals. She smiled at me and said, "Hey, you wanna form a party and kill some of these boars?" I nodded and opened the menu and sent her a party request. She accepted and I saw her health gauge appear bellow mine.

"I got a bunch of healing crystals, so don't worry about healing," she told me. I nodded and drew my spear. With a giant yell, I rushed the boars, stabbing at them. "You play MMO's before this one?" I called out. She drew her weapon, a beginner's mace, and nodded. "Ever play in parties?" I asked. "Yeah, why?" She asked, diving into the fray. "I'll stab it a few times and corral it to you, then you switch in and finish it, ok?" I said, leaping back. She did the same and nodded. "Hey ugly!" I yelled at the boar. It turned to me, looking puzzled. It had a look like, "Are you really insulting me? I could tear you apart in seconds?" I grinned and shouted, "Delicious bacon bits!" The boar snorted, steam coming from its nose. With a squeal, it charged at me. I side stepped and stabbed it in its shoulder. "Come on hammy, what's the matter, to slow?" Hammy decided he hated his new name and turned and slashed at me with its tusks. I blocked with the haft of my spear and kicked him like a soccer ball. He flew in-between a couple of bushes and I yelled, "GOAAAAAAAAAALLL!" I had heard my friend yell it one time when we were watching a soccer match. The announcer had made it very short, but my friend liked to exaggerate everything. Lis laughed again, calling out, "You're insane!" I grinned and replied, "But I'm the good kind of crazy."

Hammy decided that moment was the perfect opportunity to crash the party. He charged in and sent me flying onto my front. I grunted and saw that I had about 40 HP left. I got up and stabbed him in the side, and then picked him up via my spear. "Hey Liz, wanna play some baseball?" I grinned. She laughed and stood with her mace like she was a batter. I flung Hammy off the end of my spear and she slugged him in the ribs. With a squeal, he went flying and hit a tree. He got staticky for a second, and then shattered into a thousand little blue specs. The menu popped up and said, "Congratulations! Exp. Gained: 100, Items Found: Two." I looked at the items and laughed. "Look, we got boar pork." I said, chuckling still. Lis grinned at me and shook her head.

We hunted around 20 or 30 more boars, leveling up twice in the process. Looking up at the clock, I saw it was around 7 o'clock pm. "Damn, I have to log out soon," I said. Lis looked a little sad. "Oh, do you really have to go? We were having so much fun!" I smiled apologetically. "I won't be gone long; I just need to eat some dinner." She perked up after I said that. "Ok. Here, let me send you a friend request." I saw the request pop up and I accepted with out hesitation. "I'll see you soon Lisbeth."

I swiped my hand downwards, opening the main menu, and went to the options tab. "Huh, that's weird," I said. "What is it Kioto?" She asked me. "The log out button's gone." I looked through all the tabs, but couldn't find it. Liz looked really freaked out, so I grinned and said, "Look at it this way. Today's the official launch, right? There're bound to be a few bugs. I'm sure that the GM can get us out of here." I pushed the button that let us call the GM, but he wouldn't pick up. "Maybe he's busy?" Lis suggested. I nodded, saying, "Yeah, Someone else probably got to him first." A bell tolled in the distance, and then I heard a whine, like someone was teleporting. I saw a blue glow start to form and called out, "Lis!" I snatched her hand just as the world went white.

After the forced teleport was done, I saw that we were back in the Town of Beginnings, along with every other player in the game. Lis and I were still holding hands, and she clung to my arm with fear. "What's going on here?" She whimpered. I wrapped my arm around her protectively and said, "Don't worry; it's going to be ok." A random person pointed to the sky and yelled, "What's that." We all looked up and saw a red hexagon that read, "WARNING!" I heard someone say, "I believe the locals call it a hexagon, not to sure on the pronunciation." I cracked a smile and muttered, "Smart ass." All of the sudden, millions of hexagons appeared, covering the square in a giant dome.

Blood began leaking through the cracks, bowling out about 100 feet up. Lighting crackled throughout it, and the blob began to take the shape of a giant human. He was wearing a red robe, with a hood that completely cloaked his face in darkness, and he wore white gloves. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment I am in control of this world," he announced. We all stared. Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, was looming before us. "I'm sure that most of you have noticed that there is an item missing from your main menus. The log out button. Let me assure you this is not a defect in the game. I repeat this is not a defect, this is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." Kayaba announced. I looked at Lis and whispered, "He can't be serious." She responded with, "Maybe he's making a joke. I heard that some CEO's like to keep things loose."

We all fell silent as Kayaba continued his speech. "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head, if anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life." We all paled. This was no joke, he was serious. "Despite my warning the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision to say the least." He pulled up multiple screens that showed multiple news reports. One read, "Death Toll from Sword Art Online reaches hundreds." Kayaba resumed his earlier statement, saying, "As a result the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world. As you can see, international media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point it's safe to assume the likelihood of the NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game." I trembled with rage, imagining my mother and my sister Minami standing over my motionless body, weeping. Lis hugged my arm tighter, trying to calm me down.

"It's important to remember the following," Kayaba stated. "It is no longer possible to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system, and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain." Everyone was freaking out at this point. Even Lis, who was so strong only moments ago, now had tears trickling down her face. "There's only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon, and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game." I felt myself grip my spear. Hafted weapons were no longer an option for me. I had to go with what I knew, and what I knew was swords.

"Last but not least," Kayaba said, "I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look." Almost like it was rehearsed, we all took out the mirror. I stared at my avatar's face, and then all of the sudden there was a blue flash of light. When it settled, I saw my real face. I had grey eyes and straight black hair. That's right; my avatar looked nothing like me. "Kioto? Is that you?" I heard Lis ask me. I looked over and saw a girl with brown hair that was bobbed short, only to her chin, and held in by a hair clip. Her eyes, oh man her eyes. They were the most beauiful shade of brown I'd ever seen. "Yeah, it's me." I said. Looking around, I noticed that the number of male players had dramatically increased. "It's a trap!" Someone yelled. "And a lot of 'em," I chuckled under my breath.

Kayaba resumed speaking once everyone settled down.. "Right now, you're probably wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, and NerveGear do this to us?" I heard many grunt in agreement. "Ultimately my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see I have achieved my goal." He spread his arms wide. "This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." With a dial up tone he faded out and his essence was returned to the dome, which then disappeared.

Frantically, I reached for Lis and dragged her through the crowd. I saw a few players doing the same with their friends. 'Beta testers,' I thought. They knew, as well as I did, that once an MMO stated, there was only so much Exp. and money to go around. "Lis, theirs a small town to the west of here, we need to get out of here before the Town's resources are exhausted." I explained. She nodded and ran with me.

We fought many monsters, and found a few decent items. But most importantly, we found ore. Liz had said she wanted to become a blacksmith, and if we wanted that to happen, we need all the ore we could get. I must have raised my mining skill at least 5 levels on the way to the next town. When we got their, we set up a forge where Lis could practice, and I took care of all the leveling and collecting of resources and Col.

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**So, That's it for this chapter. Man, this was a monumental undertaking. I hope you all enjoyed the small bit of humor I threw in, I think it makes it more enjoyable. I'm also looking for some of your oc's to make an appearance! Just tell me their name, weapon of choice, a brief description of them, their personality, and also it may turn into where Kioto and Liz break up, so if you want for those female ones, why their attracted to Kioto and what they see in him. If I get multiple applications for the heroine of our story, ill pick two and put it up to a poll. The poll will stay for one week, then ill pick the winner from that. TTYL, R&R!**


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